African news, African views

In the wake of the delayed elections, Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised recently after striking a deal with Boko Haram.

The terrorist organisation released a video to deny any truce, and launching new threats again the country.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has come under fire after a discredited truce with Boko Haram.The deal was being described as a breakthrough, agreed between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram.The deal was also supposed to pave the way for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls, abducted by the armed group back in April.Both prospects have since been discredited with Boko Haram making a flat denial in a video released online.Are peace talks still possible? Or is military intervention inevitable?

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Nigeria much anticipated election, supposed to happen on February 14th, have been postponed to six weeks later.

For the government, the security context, with the Boko Haram threat, justified that decision. However for the opposition parties, this move is just intended for Goodluck Jonathan (currently in office) to buy time in a close race against General Muhammadu Buhari, the opposition leader.

The elections come at a crucial time for Nigeria, which faces multiple crisis with the falling oil prices and the increasing security threat with Boko Haram.

Watch the reaction from 72 year-old Buhari below. He talks about the delay in the election process, the failure of the army to tackle the Boko Haram issue, and the limitations of the current government.

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Copa Barry, the long-serving but trophy-less Ivorian goalkeeper, spent most of the AFCON 2015 tournament on the bench, as Sylvain Gbohouo played well and saved the team on numerous occasions in the buildup to the final game.

To be completely frank, I was not re-assured when I saw that Barry would play the final. His previous performance along the years were sub-par, and we would have needed a strong performance from him in the final.

But this time, he delivered.

Gbohouo was stuck by injury, and the much criticised Copa Barry played as a goalkeeper for the final. The rest is history. Barry saved two crucial penalty shootouts when the team was down, only to deliver the final blow to Ghana, which meant victory for Côte d’Ivoire.

I was criticised. But I am a man who wants to progress in my life, and keep learning.

I am not the tallest, or even the most talented player. But I want to learn. I want to keep progressing. All the criticism helped me to grow.

I worked hard for the team. God is just.

I am thinking about my Mother. My Mother was suffering from not seeing me on the field.

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Blaise Compaoré left Burkina Faso after 27 years in power following an uprising.

No glory, no honor. His thirst for power, his inability to develop Burkina Faso, and his tendencies to get involved in other countries’ politics (Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and many others) finally caught up with Beau Blaise.

As said by Thomas Sankara, “while revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas”.

Many of the protesters say the history of the slain 1980s leader partly inspired them to rise against Blaise Compaoré, who has been in power for 27 years and was trying, by a vote in parliament, for another five.

Though some see Sankara as an autocrat who came to office by the power of the gun, and who ignored basic human rights in pursuit of his ideals, in recent years he has been cited as a revolutionary inspiration not only in Burkina Faso but in other countries across Africa.

The situation is still not clear, as the “coup within the coup” from Presidential Guard commander Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida has been met with negative feedback both from the Burkinabè and the International community.

The next few weeks will be critical, as whoever is in power will have to deal with an escalation in violence from the protesters and Compaoré’s loyalists, notwithstanding the previous regional threats such as Ebola and terrorism.

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Welcome to Until Our Independence, a blog about Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Africa and international affairs. Read the latest news and opinions about the situation, the election crisis and the ICC trial of Laurent Gbagbo. Videos, links and articles about politics in Africa. Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive the posts when they are published.